No One Will Work Harder for You Than You
It’d been about three months since I’d stepped into a bookstore
when I popped into Barnes and Noble the other day with Stella, masks and all. And there it was, my memoir, Sleeping with a Stranger, on the bottom right of the bookshelf.
(I wonder if I can convince Brian to change our last name to something that starts with an “A” so we can get that top shelf spot??)
It was the first time since my book released that I’d had the chance to see it on a shelf. Turns out, releasing a book during a global pandemic tends to throw off plans like book tours, press features, and readings.
I’d be lying if I said that this change of plans hasn’t been, at times, frustrating, infuriating, and discouraging.
It has been all of those things and more.
But it has also been a chance to remember that really, there’s so little we can control in this life.
I can’t control how my book is received. I can’t control who reads it or how many people hear about it. I can’t control what happens when a novel virus interrupts months of carefully laid plans. And really, that’s not my job. My purpose was to live the story and share it. What happens from there isn’t really under my control.
At the same time, when I learned our whole book launch plan needed to be scrapped, I got to work. I dove into plan B. I knew that, when it came down to it, it’s my name on that front cover, and it’s me who’s going to keep believing in my book and the story of hope in its pages that we so desperately need right now.
A team-member asked me the other day if I regretted not using a traditional publisher instead of self-publishing, and I didn’t even have to think my answer.
No.
At the end of the day, I know that nobody is going to work harder for me than me.
That’s why, when I had the chance, I grabbed this little book that could and plopped it on a big table of new arrivals, right as you walk in the store.
I want my daughter to see that at the end of the day, I’m going to bet on me. Because I want her to grow up with the confidence to bet on herself, too.
Three things I want to leave with you today:
You have everything you need to be the author of your own story.
No one will work harder for you than you.
If you’ve got to bet on somebody, bet on yourself.
Go get ‘em!